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Philly.com & CSN Philly are both citing NBA sources confirming that Villanova Associate Head Coach, Billy Lange, will be joining the coaching staff of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Under head coach, Brett Brown, Lange will be joining a newly formed bench staff that also includes Chad Iske (Denver Nuggets), Lloyd Pierce (Memphis Grizzlies) and Greg Foster (University of Texas at El Paso).
Lange got a taste of the Wells Fargo Center high-life while at Villanova, and moving there permanently with the local pro-franchise may be a move he covets. For the Wildcats, it is just another instance of turnover on the basketball staff, an issue that has been somewhat constant as the program has progressed these last few years.
Few assistant coaches in the college ranks will stick around forever, and even long-term assistants like Chris Collins (13 years at Duke) will often move on if the right opportunity presents itself. In other cases, such as that of Mike Hopkins (Boeheim/Syracuse), being the top assistant to a legendary coach can be a long-term career decision -- but that tends to be a rare occurrence.
Lange returned to the Main Line in 2011, after being the Head Coach at Navy for seven seasons.
He served as an assistant under Wright for three years, from 2001 to 2003 before leaving to take the job at Annapolis.
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